I had an interesting encounter the other day. I was wearing shorts – as you do on a warm day – and walking down the main street to the university, in the middle of the day.
A couple of men stopped me and one of them said, “How much do you charge, love?”
Female students here get this kind of crap a lot, so I decided to mess with him. “For a prat like you, a million pounds, but if you’ve got a sister, I’ll do her free.”
This incensed him and he started yelling, “You can’t say that about my sister!”
“Well,” I said as calmly as I could, “I am someone’s sister too.”
“Oh. Of course, yeah… I do like your shorts though. Sorry I was a dickhead before, like.”
“Thanks. Just remember women are people too and we don’t like being called sluts.”
“Aye, makes sense… Sorry, love. You have a nice day.”
“You too, mate, nice to meet you.”
I was quite heartened by how he seemed to change his mind and be really quite friendly after I’d challenged him, but I shouldn’t have to answer to strangers for the crime of wearing shorts. Then again, it’s MFIF.
Someone’s Sister, UK
Tags: "Prat" vocab of the day, clothing, MFIF, shorts = prostitute?, street harassment
March 28, 2011 at 5:36 pm |
Good show, lady!
March 30, 2011 at 4:13 am |
This makes me happy
March 30, 2011 at 6:10 pm |
Excellent! I hope it sticks. Hats off to you for making someone a wee little bit smarter than they were.
April 2, 2011 at 10:32 pm |
Still sucks that the only way to gain value to this twerp is via relationships. Somebody’s sister, somebody’s daughter, somebody’s girlfriend – but on your own, just a woman.
April 3, 2011 at 5:28 am |
I agree with Julian.
March 24, 2012 at 12:55 am |
I agree as well. It is sad that you actually need to prime someone with a relationship status for them to acknowledge that you are actually human and a person to respect. Quite bizarre.
April 3, 2011 at 9:07 pm |
*applauds*
One down – many, many to go.
May 18, 2011 at 4:53 am |
It’s sad that approach has to be taken, but you did it with style. Amazing. =)